UFC:s tidigare welterviktsmästare Tyron Woodley har öppnat upp sig om sin kamp mot depressionen inför nattens match mot Gilbert Burns i galan denna helg.
Woodley och Burns är tänkta att mötas inatt vid UFC:s återkomst till hemstaden Las Vegas, Nevada. Inför detta har Woodley haft tid att reflektera över den resan han gjort mot comebacken sedan den tunga titelförlusten mot Kamaru Usman i mars förra året vid UFC 235 via enhälligt domslut.
Den forne mästaren valde att prata (via MMA Junkie) om de problem han haft efter UFC 235 vid gårdagens mediaträff och hur han hanterat titelförlusten:
I went into a state of depression for a while. I really wasn’t talking to many people, I was eating terrible, I wasn’t training, and I just really didn’t expect – I felt like all my competition before Kamaru Usman was my stiffest competition. I felt like all the great welterweights I beat before then would be my toughest competition. I didn’t take anyone lightly. I didn’t think it was going to be cruise control at that point, but I felt like I had those five rounds mapped out so well. I felt like my strategy, my gameplan, my studying, my coaches, my team, I felt like I had everything in position to win. So I really had to deal with that, and it took longer than any other fight in my career.
I got to the point where I felt like I faced it head on. I felt like I’m a better person, I’m a better fighter, a better human being because of it. I felt like it was necessary for my journey. Sometimes you see guys, and they just go from the bottom to the top and they spring all the way though. They got everybody helping them out, whether it’s media push or social media, and they just got all the things given. It’s the people who have to bounce back, who have to face adversity and have to show the fans what they’re made of – that they’re just not going to crawl into a ball.
Inför nattens match har UFC valt att släppa en video med Woodleys alla avslut i oktagonen.
